Sabé Arcadia: “People have a habit of doing that sometimes.”
―Cliegg Lars and Sabé Arcadia
Sabé Arcadia was the Human female Queen of Utapau during the Trade Federation shipping cartel’s invasion of the planet in 22 BBY. Born in 47 BBY as the daughter of King Veruna Arcadia, Arcadia grew up under the guidance of her father until he was assassinated in 24 BBY. Because he was assassinated due to his unpopular military expansion policies, Arcadia reversed many of them once she took the planet's throne.
In 23 BBY, Arcadia became a principal supporter of the successful passage of the Republic Anti-Slavery Law. The Trade Federation, which was financially impacted by the law, blockaded Utapau in an attempt to force the Republic to reverse the law. Arcadia attempted to negotiate for one month, but the Federation invaded the planet and began an occupation. This prompted Arcadia, with help from Jedi Master Jard Dooku and Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi, to escape the planet.
Arcadia's escape vessel was damaged by the planetary blockade, and so with Arcadia’s blessing the crew set a course for Tatooine to safely make repairs. The vessel received additional damage after crashing due to a sandstorm, and a local moisture farmer named Annikin Skywalker offered to help repair the ship’s hyperdrive, which Arcadia agreed to.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Sabé, self-reliance is the only road to true independence.
—Veruna Arcadia
Sabé Arcaida was a Human female born into the royal House of Arcadia in 47 BBY as the daughter of Veruna Arcadia, then-King of Utapau. During her youth, her father taught her that failure was a pathway to success because it would teach her necessary lessons.[1] King Arcadia also taught her to be self-sufficient, believing it would make her more independent.[3]
New queen[]
In 24 BBY, high-grade plasma veins were discovered beneath the streets of Ogana, Utapau’s capital city. King Arcadia and the planet’s senator, Malus Palpatine, negotiated a deal with the Trade Federation shipping cartel to have the Federation purchase the plasma at a fixed cost, but the Federation breached their contract by sellings Utapau short by re-selling the plasma at a marked up price. The planet pulled out of the deal, prompting the king to expand the Utapau Security Forces as he feared a military response from the Federation. These military expansion policies, widely regarded as controversial and unpopular amongst the planet’s citizens, led to King Arcadia’s assassination.[1]
The assassination led to the twenty-three-year-old Sabé Arcadia taking the throne. She reversed most of her father’s unpopular acts, but she decided to keep the Utapau Space Fighter Corps that her father founded in the event that air forces were necessary. She received death threats from angered citizens who felt that the Space Fighter Corps should have been eliminated, but she did not reverse her decision. The threats eventually subsided, and Utapau returned to what Arcadia felt was a harmonious society. It was during this time that Arcadia promised the citizens that she would not let Utapau become involved in any violent conflicts.[1]
In 23 BBY, at the behest of Senator Palpatine,[4] Arcadia became a principal supporter of the proposed Republic Anti-Slavery Law,[1] a bill in the Galactic Senate that would prohibit Galactic Republic corporations from using slave workers outside of Republic territory. The Trade Federation, which used slave workers outside of Republic space, fought against the bill, but it eventually passed successfully. Because the law’s enactment caused fiscal damage to the Federation, the Federation leaders began to plan a blockade and eventual invasion of Utapau. The goal of the invasion was both revenge for the bill’s passage and to force the Republic into overturning the law.[2]
Utapau crisis[]
Blockade[]
I will not condone a course of action that will lead us to war...
—Sabé Arcadia just before the beginning of the Trade Federation invasion
In 22 BBY, one year after the law’s enactment, the Trade Federation began its blockade of Utapau. Arcadia attempted for one month to negotiate the end of the blockade, but she was unable to convince the blockade leaders, Federation Viceroy Nute Gunray and Dark Jedi Master Maul, to remove their blockade vessel from orbit. As the blockade continued, Federation leaders carried out their preparations for a full-scale invasion.[2]
Shortly before the invasion began, Arcadia received word that Finis Valorum, the Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic, was sending two ambassadors to the lead blockade vessel in order to resolve the conflict. Shortly thereafter, Arcadia received notice that ambassadors had arrived, so she contacted the Federation command ship and informed Maul that she knew the ambassadors were aboard the vessel. Maul claimed to know nothing of any Jedi, implying that he did know more than he was saying as Arcadia had not said anything about Jedi. The transmission ended soon thereafter.[2]
After the transmission with Maul ended, Arcadia held a meeting with her Advisory Council and spoke with Senator Palpatine, who spoke from Coruscant, the capital of the Republic, via hologram. As Palpatine was stating that he received assurances from Chancellor Valorum that his ambassadors did arrive on the command ship, the transmission ended due to the planetary communication systems being jammed by the Federation. This led Arcadia and those in the meeting to conclude that the Federation was beginning its invasion.[1]
Invasion[]
I will not cooperate.
—Sabé Arcadia to Trade Federation Viceroy Nute Gunray
In the hours after the planetary communication was jammed, the Federation landed its droid army on Utapau. Led by the battle droid OOM-9, the droid forces made their way through and occupied the cities of New Centrif, Harte Secur, and Spinnaker before beginning the Battle of Ogana in the capital city.[1] At the insistence of Panaka, the head of the Utapau Security Forces and the queen’s head guard, Arcadia remained in her throne room at the Ogana Royal Palace for protection.[4]
During the battle, Panaka and his men attempted to repel the Federation invaders, but Arcadia eventually called on the security forces to retreat once she believed that they were fighting a losing battle. Panaka retreated to the throne room,[5] where Arcadia received a message from Arruinada, Mayor of New Centrif, warning her of the Federation invasion force. Although the warning was too late, it confirmed to Arcadia that New Centrif had been destroyed and that the last working planetary communication relay, which was in New Centrif, had been destroyed.[4]
The Federation occupied Ogana by the end of the battle, which solidified their rule over most of the planet.[5] At the battle’s end, Federation forces stormed the palace, where they captured Arcadia and a number of her guards and advisors.[4] Viceroy Gunray, who had just arrived on the planet, confronted Arcadia and told her that she would have to sign a treaty to legitimize the Federation’s occupation, but Arcadia refused. In response, Gunray ordered that she and her guards and advisers be taken to Federation Camp Four, an internment camp constructed on the outskirts of the city following the battle. While en route to the camp, the group was freed after their droid captors were assaulted by Jedi Master Jard Dooku, Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Jar Binks, the exiled Crowned Prince of Utapau’s Gungan Empire.[5]
The two Jedi informed Arcadia that they were the ambassadors sent by Chancellor Valorum, but they had been targeted for assassination before any talks could take place. Panaka, after a request from the Jedi, led the group to a nearby hangar where the Jedi convinced Arcadia to travel with them to Coruscant for safety. Once the Jedi, Binks, Arcadia, and a number of Arcadia’s guards boarded the queen’s royal starship, the ship lifted off and escaped into orbit, where it fought its way through the Federation blockade. The shield generator was knocked offline, but the astromech droid R2-D2 was able to repair it. While they managed to escape, the ship's hyperdrive generator was damaged. After commending R2-D2 for saving the ship, Arcadia approved a plan proposed by the Jedi to travel to the desert world of Tatooine where the crew could safely make repairs to the ship.[5]
Tatooine[]
Obi-Wan Kenobi: “Then it would be no different than landing on a system with a Federation presence.”
―Panaka and Obi-Wan Kenobi argue the disadvantages of landing on Tatooine
One day later, the vessel arrived in orbit around Tatooine, where it was discovered that the vessel’s short-range navigational sensors were offline. Nevertheless, the ship’s pilot, Ric Olié, began a descent towards the surface. While the vessel was preparing to land, it collided with a sand storm and crashed just outside of the Anchorhead settlement due to the damage caused by the collision, further damaging the craft’s systems.[6] Annikin Skywalker, a local moisture farmer, went aboard the vessel and offered to help repair the systems, specifically the hyperdrive generator. Arcadia agreed to his offer, and she also agreed to his offer to have her and the crew stay at Skywalker’s family farm.[5]
After Skywalker’s family agreed to allow Arcadia and the crew to stay on their farm,[7] Arcadia and the others arrived at the farm. The next morning, they all woke up early to begin the chores that Cliegg Lars, Skywalker’s step-father, had assigned them, as they agreed to help in order to repay the family’s hospitality. Arcadia worked all day on a cooling unit in the center of the homestead, interrupted only once by Cliegg Lars while he was looking for Skywalker. Lars was surprised by Arcadia’s technical abilities, so she relayed to him what her father taught her about being self-reliant. Once Lars left her to her work, Arcadia continued to work throughout the day. Before she finished work, she met Logan Amator, a member of Panaka’s team, who was in the area. They talked for a few minutes about Amator’s background before leaving the cooling unit so they could join the family for dinner.[3]
Personality and traits[]
You're not from the Republic, Annikin, and you're doing us a huge favor by fixing our ship. You can call me Sabé.
—Sabé Arcadia, dropping her royal and formal tone with Annikin Skywalker
Despite being a wartime queen, Arcadia knew what her convictions were about war. She believed that war was counterproductive and futile, and that the money spent on war should have been used to feed the hungry and clothe the poor. While she considered this to be a strong moral outrage, she felt stronger about the supposed fake patriotism that surrounded war. It was Arcadia’s belief that waving a flag and warmongering was not enough to be patriotic. She also did not consider any justification for war to be legitimate. For example, she considered war in the interest of freedom hypocritical, believing that war always stripped away rights, freedoms, and the lives of innocents.[1]
Prior to the Invasion of Utapau, Arcadia was known as a woman who would always have a smile on her face. The blockade and subsequent invasion, however, caused her to lose some of her happiness, particularly in regards to her ability to effectively carry out her duties as queen. She came to view herself as a failure due to her inability to prevent the invasion. Because of this self-proclaimed failure, Arcadia did not know if she would continue to have the trust and respect of the people. This was all despite her later father’s insistence that failure was a pathway to learning one’s mistakes and finally succeeding.[1]
Some people, such as Logan Amator, held the belief that she was a good leader, even after her inability to prevent the invasion, due to an ability to relate to Utapau’s citizens. Amator credited this to her exhibiting a political innocent, something he felt was rarely seen by those who were involved in politics and government.[3]
Arcadia believed it was hard to find generous individuals in the galaxy, specifically those who would help strangers without asking for any sort of profit. This was due to the fact that, as queen, she had dealt with people she felt were not generous, leading her to assume that everyone was after some sort of payment. This opinion was changed somewhat after she met Annikin Skywalker, who offered to repair her vessel’s hyperdrive for free. This seemingly kind act from Skywalker caused Arcadia to become informal around him, allowing Skywalker to address her as Sabé rather than by an official title or her surname.[7]
Talents and abilities[]
...my father raised me to be self-sufficient. He told me 'Sabé, self-reliance is the only road to true independence'. I've always tried to remember that since.
—Sabé Arcadia speaking to Cliegg Lars about her father, Veruna Arcadia
Due to her father’s belief in the important of self-reliance, Arcadia learned technical skills that would help her during her life. One of these included mechanical abilities, which she put to use on the Lars homestead while working on one of the family’s cooling units. Cliegg Lars assumed that Arcadia was not able to take care of herself or perform such tasks, an opinion that was proven unfounded once he saw her working on the unit.[3]
Behind the scenes[]
Sabé Arcadia is a character developed by author Brandon Rhea for his novel Star Wars: Episode I - The Chosen One, part of the Alternative Star Wars Saga fan fiction series. Her name is a combination of the canon character Sabé and the word “Arcadia”.[8]
Appearances[]
- Star Wars: Episode I - The Chosen One (First appearance)
Notes and references[]
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 The Chosen One, Chapter 2
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 The Chosen One, Chapter 1
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 The Chosen One, Chapter 8
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 The Chosen One, Chapter 3
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 The Chosen One, Chapter 4 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "TCO-4" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ The Chosen One, Chapter 6
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 The Chosen One, Chapter 7
- ↑ Star Wars: Episode I - The Chosen One